Lake Zurich recovering from flooding throughout village

Mundelein, Gurnee mostly escape major problems

July 02, 2013|By Dan Waters, Chicago Tribune reporter

Ron Lomacz, a Lake Zurich resident living in the Braemar neighborhood, got almost 10 feet of water in his basement. (Dan Waters, Chicago Tribune)

After flooding last week prompted the declaration of a local state of emergency in Lake Zurich, the village rallied to help the hardest-hit areas even as some blamed backed-up drainage systems for contributing to flooding problems.

"There are times in our daily routine when nature throws us a wild punch, and this was a wild punch," Mayor Tom Poynton said after an estimated 6.6 inches of rain pelted the area.

Lake Zurich Public Works Manager Mike Brown called the flooding, which started on June 26, the worst he has seen in his 23 years with the village. Nearby Mundelein, Gurnee and Libertyville mostly escaped serious after-effects.

In Lake Zurich, building and zoning Director Dan Peterson said it's unclear how much damage, in dollar amounts, was caused by the heavy rains. Peterson said he has documented about 120 homes that were affected, and he is "sure it's a lot more (after) driving through and surveying the damage on garbage day."

Ela Township Assessor John Barrington said about 25 people in the township had "real, serious damage," effects that weren't limited to residents.

Lake Zurich's village hall — 70 E. Main St. — and the Ela Town Hall — 1155 E. Route 22 — both took on water, disrupting regularly scheduled meetings and displacing some employees, officials said. Monday's village board meeting was relocated to police headquarters at 200 Mohawk Trail, and officials early this week were still working to get both buildings dried out.

At the meeting, residents gathered to express frustrations with the flooding. A shorted-out sanitary lift station in the Lake Zurich's Braemar neighborhood — north of Cuba Road and west of Ela Road — left some without sewer service for a day. And other residents said a backed-up storm-water drainage system exacerbated their problems.

Braemar resident Ron Lomacz said he heard a loud crash in his basement around 7 a.m. Wednesday, only to find flood waters had broken through three of his windows, leaving close to 10 feet of water in his basement.

And while village officials came out to his home to survey the damage, Lomacz blamed the village for what he estimated to be $60,000 to $70,000 worth of damage to the home.

"In my opinion, the village is 110 percent completely at fault for flooding my basement," he said.

Having lived in the same home since 1988, Lomacz said he had seen flooding before, but "nothing to this extent." Lomacz said he hoped the village would provide financial assistance to those who were severely affected. He and several other residents at the meeting said they did not purchase flood insurance because their homes are not in a flood plain.

Although they did not comment specifically about the flood insurance issue, village officials said the flood was a freak event — calling it a "200-year storm." A number of trustees apologized for what residents were going through. The village also agreed to waive permit fees on work related to restoring flood-damaged homes to provide some relief.

The sheer amount of rainfall last week — the majority of which happened in a three-hour window — was just too much for the village's sewer system to handle, Brown said.

"There's just no way," he said. "It was a difficult thing to manage."

Officials said they hoped getting rid of fees related to repairing electrical, water heaters, furnaces and HVAC systems would help people get back into their homes quicker. The board also promised to come back with plans for a drainage study to examine the village's flooding problems.

Plans for the study had been in the works before last week, according to Village Manager Jason Slowinski.

The village over the weekend placed about 20 dumpsters in different locations across town for residents to dispose of flood-related debris, and is offering free cleanup kits — including mops, buckets, gloves and other materials — for those affected. Brown urged residents in need of assistance to contact the village for help, and Barrington said his office would also be reviewing properties to see if homeowners might be eligible for disaster relief assessments.

Water levels had fallen dramatically this week, and Brown said they were back to normal elevations in most places. He said he planned to present the village board on July 15 with the drainage study proposal.

A number of main village streets were closed the day the rains fell, and the police department spent much of that morning helping residents who needed to be towed after trying to drive through flooded streets, Chief Pat Finlon said.

No injuries were reported, Finlon said.

Barrington estimated more than 100 people volunteered time last weekend by helping homeowners with waterlogged basements stow away personal items, pull up carpets and clear away moldy drywall.

"The community has really come up and come together on this event," Barrington said. "A lot of people have really stepped up in a big way."

Nearby Mundelein wasn't nearly as hard-hit. But portions of Courtland Street between Route 45 and Midlothian Road were shut down briefly, officials said. The area was up and running again quickly without any major difficulties, officials said. The street, which often floods after heavy rains, was also closed during storms in April.

To the north, Gurnee — which was particularly affected by April rains that forced fire department officials to vacate a fire station — reported no problems. Libertyville officials also said few serious issues related to the rains arose in their area.